Andrew Lloyd Webber

Hi guys,

prog music has its hero also in musicals, and the name is ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER.

He is a master in experimentation, technicity, oddities, and mood.

Some examples:

"Jesus Christ Superstar" was written in 1972, nice period for prog music. I personally think it's an unparalleled prog rock opera. Main melodies come and go in great harmony (a pattern usually found in so-called "concept albums"), taking you by the hand from Judas's first line "My mind is clearer now" to JC's last words "Father, into Your hands I command my spirit". Lyrics (by Tim Rice, wow!) are great poetry, again with recurring themes (e.g. Judas "My mind is clearer now" at the beginning vs. "My mind is in darkness" after the betrayal). And MUSIC: it's full of odd time signatures (mostly over 7 beats like in Judas "Nazareth your famous son / should have stayed a great unknown...", sometimes 5 like in Mary Magdalene "Everything's alright"), ranging from pure rock Deep Purple style (well, JC's voice in the film is by Mr Ian Gillan...) to jazz (Herod's song) to ballad (I don't know how to love him, by Mary Magdalene). A MASTERPIECE !!! (You know, my daughter's name is Maddalena not just by chance...)

"Cats": Grizabella "Memories" is unforgettable once heard, especially when sung by Elaine Page. "Macavity" gets you back to Detroit in the 1920s. "Jellicle cats" is one of the most beautiful intros ever written...

"The Phantom of the Opera": change vocals into Dani Filth's and you have Cradle of Filth. Leave them as they are and you have Giuseppe Verdi (mostly during overlapping vocals), or Sammy Davis Junior (who sang "The music of the night" in Milan some 20 years ago during a concert with Liza Minnelli and Frank Sinatra). "Masquerade" is as technically hard as musically perfect. And finally, choreographies are a challenge also for Broadway! Not bad for a single opera!

"Evita": ok ok you're probably thinking about "Don't cry for me Argentina". Nice, but there are higher moments in the musical: "And the money kept rolling" is a fantastic 7/8 Spanish-like song. And the intro is a unique blend of rock, classical and folk prog music.

Well let's stop here otherwise it gets too long!

But here I declare: Mr Webber MUST be acknowledged as a pure prog composer. Maybe he's already here somewhere, but if not let's have him!

Ciao,

Andrew Lloyd Webber as any rational Musical producer includes sounds that are fashion or at least common in the time when they release their works.

Prog was popular or atleast common in the early 70's, that's why Jesus Christ Superstar has some Prog influence (more than just some to be honest), but please, listen the rest of his works, Cats Prog????

Evita Prog?????? Samy Davis singing Prog?????

All his works are mainly musicals, not a determined genre or sound he uses what he wants when he wants.

BTW: Musical is a variation of theater, a mixture of music, dance and acting, can't be vconsidered even Prog related, despite the fact he included some prog songs in his shows.

Iván

"Mr Webber MUST be acknowledged as a pure prog composer"

Please tell me this is a joke someone!

I've heard this LP before "MOOG SUPERSTAR" by Terry Wallace and the Intersteller Moog Sounds.

Does anyone have info on this album, it's Jesus Christ Superstar done with Moog Synthesizers in 1974.

ivan_2068 wrote: Andrew Lloyd Webber as any rational Musical producer includes sounds that are fashion or at least common in the time when they release their works. Prog was popular or atleast common in the early 70's, that's why Jesus Christ Superstar has some Prog influence (more than just some to be honest), but please, listen the rest of his works, Cats Prog???? Evita Prog?????? Samy Davis singing Prog????? All his works are mainly musicals, not a determined genre or sound he uses what he wants when he wants. BTW: Musical is a variation of theater, a mixture of music, dance and acting, can't be vconsidered even Prog related, despite the fact he included some prog songs in his shows. Iván

oh Ivan... You never fail to bring me something to bash you about

About JSC you are correct.

and cats...Deffinatly not prog

about Evita not being prog at all is one of the most ignorant statements ive heard on this board.

The Evita Score is one of the most complexly written scores in Musical history. The intricate harmonies, shifting meters, and reacurring themes is all very prog.

to your BTW, how does dancing prohibit progness? this statement really means nothing. 'oh, if your dancing and singing and acting, you can not possibly be prog' ..It just makes no sense.

and BTW- ALW has never written a musical. All of his pieces are Opreas. This means that there is little or no dialoge between characters and the storyline is carried out through the musical. Like a concept album.

BePinkTheater wrote: [ oh Ivan... You never fail to bring me something to bash you about Not even because of the smiley I take this as a joke or: Am I not allowed to express freely my opinion (Which is at least as valid as yours)? About JSC you are correct. Thank you owner of the truth, I'm honoured and cats...Deffinatly not prog about Evita not being prog at all is one of the most ignorant statements ive heard on this board. Why do you have to use the word ignorant? Do you know something about my knowledge of musicals? I don't believe Evita is Prog as most of the world, no site in the world considers ALW or Evita Prog? Maybe you know something that therest of he world doesn't. The Evita Score is one of the most complexly written scores in Musical history. The intricate harmonies, shifting meters, and reacurring themes is all very prog. For you, not for me or most of the music listening world. to your BTW, how does dancing prohibit progness? this statement really means nothing. 'oh, if your dancing and singing and acting, you can not possibly be prog' ..It just makes no sense. Never said that, I said that Musicals are mainly Theater works with dance and music, NOTTHING ELSE, but now that I think most Prog is not for dancing, that's a fact. Again BTW: Musicals are mainly done for commercial purpose before than for artistic, just imagine that their success or faillure is based on a critic made the same night of the debut, something unthinkable in Progressive Rock. and BTW- ALW has never written a musical ?????????????. All of his pieces are Opreas. This means that there is little or no dialoge between characters and the storyline is carried out through the musical. Like a concept album. Then tell him to give back all the Tony's he  won for the best musicals, that are a lot and he proudly recieved. Andrew Loyd Webber 1972 Score Nominees: Jesus Christ Superstar. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Tim Rice 1980 Score Winner - Evita. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Tim Rice   1982 Score Nominees: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Tim Rice 1983 Score Winner - Cats. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by T.S. Eliot   1986 Score Nominees: Song & Dance. Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black, and Richard Maltby, Jr. 1987 Score Nominees: Starlight Express. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Richard Stilgoe 1988 Book (Musical) Nominees: The Phantom of the Opera by Richard Stilgoe and Andrew Lloyd Webber 1988 Score (Musical) Nominees: The Phantom of the Opera. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe 1990 Book (Musical) Nominees: Aspects of Love by Andrew Lloyd Webber 1990 Score (Musical) Nominees: Aspects of Love. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart 1995 Original Musical Score Winner - Sunset Boulevard. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. http://www.tonyawards.com/p/tonys_search If you want more: Has won Broadway's Tony Award three times: in 1980, as Best Score (Musical), his music with lyrics by Tim Rice, for "Evita;" in 1983, as Best Score, his music with lyrics by T.S. Eliot, for "Cats;" and in 1995, as Best Original Musical Score, his music with lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton, for "Sunset Boulevard http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0515908/bio  Or even more: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born March 22 1948) is a highly successful British composer of musical theatre. He has arguably been the most popular theatre composer of the late 20th century, with multiple showpieces which have run for more than a decade both on Broadway and in the West End.  Throughout his career he has produced 16 musicals, 2 film scores, and a Latin requiem mass. He has also accumulated a number of honors, including seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Oscar, an International Emmy, six Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. Several of his songs, notably "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar, "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" from Evita, "Memory" from Cats and "The Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera have been widely recorded and were hits outside of their parent musicals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Lloyd_Webber  Just one quote from his OFFICIAL WEB SITE: Welcome to the official website dedicated to the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber http://www.reallyuseful.com/rug/html/index.htm  Lot of references to the musicals of a man that you claim never made a musical.  And I can give you 50 more web sites to check, but....Maybe you know more than him and the experts in his genre what does he play? Probably all the people who write this are ignorants, the Tony Awards Comitee are ignorants and the official Andrew Lloyd Webber site is run by ignorants.

Not trying to prove anything or to be wise a$$, I just demand the same respect I give to the rest of the members, I never offended you.

Iván

JSC

Phantom

Why does everybody consistently overlook ALW's superb "Variations" (on a theme of Paganini), excellently and most proggily executed by the majority of Colosseum II, plus further notables, including Barabara Thomson/Hiseman (Jon's wife), Mary Hopkin/Visconti, Phil Collins, Herbie Flowers et al.

That album alone deserves a place in the archives - but I really wouldn't want to see "Evita" or "Cats" here